Bethshemesh

(house of the sun).

1. One of the towns which marked the north boundary of Judah. (Joshua 15:10) It is now ’Ainshems , about two miles from the great Philistine plain, and seven from Ekron.

2. A city on the border of Issachar. (Joshua 19:22)

3. One of the "fenced cities" of Naphtali. (Joshua 19:38; Judges 1:33)

4. An idolatrous temple, or place in Egypt. (Jeremiah 43:13) In the middle ages Heliopolis was still called by the Arabs Ain Shems .